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its better you avoid directory submission where the google has stated there must be an average of 100 links per page and no directory is above pr6 only dmoz and others so you better focus on other tasks and build relationships rather than link building efforts for the website.

In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.Miracle Group

Directory submission is still can not be ignored. They help search engine to index your site so just submit them by strictly following some rules,
Submit directories with different description and title making sure you are not duplicating your description
Use high PR and worthy directory site
Do not stuff your keywords in description and title

By promoting our website, directory is not a very effective method but shouldnt be given up. As my experience with my own website http://seirim.com/, I often use free directory submission, and they contribute 20% to the reputation increase of our website.

There is no harm provided it is done discreetly, with matched relevance and preferably in niche directories. There are certain types of business for which content marketing or any other alternative method might not be feasible to adopt for a long term. Here directories gain importance.

My Question is whether it is effective and helps rank a website better in organic search engine results ?

Have you used Directory Submission (Free, Paid or Link Exchange Type) and whether it has helped in promoting your website?

Regards

Now Directory submission doesn't help to improve the ranking of your website, as Google declared most of the directory submissions as spam. Only few High PR directory sites are good, but they are paid directories, again Google considers paid listing as spam so even you can't opt for that option.

Rather than wasting time and effort on directory submission, I will suggest you to do social media optimization, Blog submission, Socail Bookmarking ,etc.